file.delete() returns false even though file.exist

Question

I'm trying to delete a file, after writing something in it, with FileOutputStream. This is the code I use for writing:

private void writeContent(File file, String fileContent) {
    FileOutputStream to;
    try {
        to = new FileOutputStream(file);
        to.write(fileContent.getBytes());
        to.flush();
        to.close();
    } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

As it is seen, I flush and close the stream, but when I try to delete, file.delete() returns false.

I checked before deletion to see if the file exists, and: file.exists(), file.canRead(), file.canWrite(), file.canExecute() all return true. Just after calling these methods I try file.delete() and returns false.

Is there anything I've done wrong?

Answer 1

FOR Eclipse/NetBeans

Restart your IDE and run your code again this is only trick work for me after one hour long struggle.

Here is my code:

File file = new File("file-path");
if(file.exists()){
  if(file.delete()){
     System.out.println("Delete");
  }
  else{

       System.out.println("not delete");
  }
}

Output:

Delete

Answer 2

Hopefully this will help. I came across similar problem where i couldn't delete my file after my java code made a copy of the content to the other folder. After extensive googling, i explicitly declared every single file operation related variables and called the close() method of each file operation object, and set them to NULL. Then, there is a function called System.gc(), which will clear up the file i/o mapping (i'm not sure, i just tell what is given on the web sites).

Here is my example code:

public void start() {
    File f = new File(this.archivePath + "\\" + this.currentFile.getName());
    this.Copy(this.currentFile, f);

    if(!this.currentFile.canWrite()){
        System.out.println("Write protected file " +
           this.currentFile.getAbsolutePath());

        return;
    }


    boolean ok = this.currentFile.delete();
    if(ok == false){
        System.out.println("Failed to remove " + this.currentFile.getAbsolutePath());
        return;
    }
}

private void Copy(File source, File dest) throws IOException {
    FileInputStream fin;
    FileOutputStream fout;
    FileChannel cin = null, cout = null;
    try {
        fin = new FileInputStream(source);
        cin = fin.getChannel();
        fout = new FileOutputStream(dest);
        cout = fout.getChannel();

        long size = cin.size();
        MappedByteBuffer buf = cin.map(FileChannel.MapMode.READ_ONLY, 0, size);

        cout.write(buf);
        buf.clear();
        buf = null;

        cin.close();
        cin = null;

        fin.close();
        fin = null;

        cout.close();
        cout = null;

        fout.close();
        fout = null;

        System.gc();

    } catch (Exception e){
        this.message = e.getMessage();
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Answer 3

the answer is when you load the file, you need apply the "close" method, in any line of code, works to me

Answer 4

If you are working in Eclipse IDE, that could mean that you haven't close the file in the previous launch of the application. When I had the same error message at trying to delete a file, that was the reason. It seems, Eclipse IDE doesn't close all files after termination of an application.

Answer 5

You have to close all of the streams or use try-with-resource block

static public String head(File file) throws FileNotFoundException, UnsupportedEncodingException, IOException
{
    final String readLine;
    try (FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(file);
            InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(fis, "UTF-8");
            LineNumberReader lnr = new LineNumberReader(isr))
    {
        readLine = lnr.readLine();
    }
    return readLine;
}

Answer 6

It was pretty odd the trick that worked. The thing is when I have previously read the content of the file, I used BufferedReader. After reading, I closed the buffer.

Meanwhile I switched and now I'm reading the content using FileInputStream. Also after finishing reading I close the stream. And now it's working.

The problem is I don't have the explanation for this.

I don't know BufferedReader and FileOutputStream to be incompatible.